"That's us, those five nuts right there." "Which is me?" "The little deformed one?"

 Well, here I am. Two months from publishing and I'm doing exactly what I set out NOT to do. I'm doing EVERYTHING last minute. But, I've learned my lesson. I think. 
 Right now I'm still working on the cover. William went out to get picture ideas with me, right now I'm looking for a model. (My brave friends. He, too, woke up early on a Saturday to go and stand out in the snow. At this rate I won't have friends left by the time the book is out. {Oh, he also got author pictures!}) I can share some of the pose and colouring ideas.







We decided the sunglasses were out. Made him look too WWII
 I wanted to make the brown pop more but when I did so the white turned blinding and when I added words to test how it would look you couldn't see them. So, I did some more research. Most Steampunk covers are coloured with lots of gray in the background and brown in the foreground, not the most cheerful covers in the world. The person is the only clear, brightly coloured object on the page. I'm thinking when we actually go up for pictures - William's mum has his camera while she's on holiday and he won't have it back till Monday - we need to find an area without so much contrasting colours in the background. (With it being both light and dark I had trouble with lettering. If I used white you couldn't see the letters against the snow, black and you couldn't see them against the trees. So I had to move them all down to the bottom and up to the top but then they were almost off the cover. As soon as I have the actual cover I will show you the rough...designs I've been working on.
 Right now I'm trying to work on colour and position. I also found THIS/ CLICK HERE pose I like. William says we can manage this even though we haven't an airplane. He said we could go out to the airport but he thinks the pilots would be put out if we stopped their take off for pictures. Pilots, no senses of humor.
 Finding the best place to take the picture might prove tricky. As I said, I can't have too many contrasting colours in the background...but try and find somewhere which has pretty much the same colours while up in the mountains, not easy - maybe we can take paint. Thankfully William believes my impossible goal can be accomplished. I hope so because I MUST have the picture on Monday. I still have to fix it up once I have it, and if I get it on Monday that only leaves me a week and a half to get it done. Am I cutting things close? Eh...slightly.
 Also, I'm considering doing NaNo during November. I've been doing it for five years, I think, in a row. I'd hate to miss a year, I do like it, but with everything else going on I wonder if I can add NaNo and not fall over dead. Living is overrated anyways.
 Before I close though, MELODY wanted to know about the trees and trouble walking in the bloopers. (I SO could have explained that better.) Anyhow, in the book, two characters are walking through the trees, more or less talking. So, I wanted to get this part in the trailer. Simple, right? Walk through the trees, pretend to not get along, slap each other with branches. William filmed the bloopers because I asked him too so I could make a bloopers video. The tree scene got the longest reel of mistakes. Without being cut, the whole thing took up fifteen minutes of just those two trying to walk. So, here is how it happened, more or less. 
 Ryan was playing Peter. All he had to do was walk behind and get hit in the face with branches. He's a man, he could take it. Tia was playing Darcy. Her part was harder because, well, she was playing a boy. But she got to fling tree branches in Ryan's face, so that kind of made up for it.
 The trouble began when 1. She couldn't stop giggling 2. Ryan blocked the branches BEFORE they came back 3. Tia could't figure out how to walk like a man.
 Her many futile attempts, as can be seen in the bloopers, usually ended with her slapping herself in the face. Once she tried the Mulan walk. (Again, seen in the bloopers.) The first time though I didn't give exact walking directions so she decided Darcy and Peter should be walking through the forest arm-in-arm. (She probably would have skipped but I don't think she knows how)
 In the end, we didn't get an actual full clip of the scene because the poor branch was put through so much flinging it broke. When the trailer comes out, if you notice, that part is really, REALLY short and is cut off kind of abruptly. 
 I showed my actors the trailer and Tia went, "After all our work, that is all that got put in?" (Jokingly of course.) I then had to show her the 15 minutes of her learning how to walk, and the three minutes of actual footage before the branch broke and she burst down into giggles. (I think out of everything, she had the most fun filming. She was a blast to work with and I dearly hope she helps in the second trailer.)
 And there you have it. The inability to walk and to not giggle. 
Again, sorry about the delay in answering comments, and thank you all for them. They are always very helpful and encouraging.***  P.S I ALMOST bought Mark of Athena today. ALMOST! I was SOOO close. But, then I looked up and what was sitting above it but...Mothstorm. The LAST book in the Larklight series. And I knew if I didn't get it then I'd never see it again. I've been looking for this book for a year or more. So, I bought it instead. Therefore, you will have to endure Percy Jackson quotes till I can afford the other book. 
 Are there any other filming stories you would like? Anything from the bloopers? (More character notes coming soon). Anything else you would like to ask? We are still open for interviews, or whatever else you would like. Which pose, colouring do you like best?
 Allons-y!